State boards from Feb. 21

Job aspirants take a written test for selection by Maruti Suzuki at the employment exchange office in Dhanbad on Monday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Ranchi, Feb. 10: Matriculation and intermediate examinations conducted by Jharkhand Academic Council will kick off from February 21.

This year, a total of 4,80,689 students will appear for the matriculation exam that will continue till March 7 at 895 centres across the state. The intermediate exam, which will see 2,99,329 candidates writing their papers at 407 centres, will end on March 13.

In state capital Ranchi, 108 centres have been earmarked for 43,689 matriculate examinees, and 36 for 39,188 intermediate students.

With just 10 days left for the twin tests, the Ranchi district administration today held a meeting to review preparations and ensure proper security arrangements. The meeting, which was held under the leadership of Ranchi additional district magistrate (Naxalite) Ravi Shankar Verma, assigned responsibilities to all centre superintendents and others roped in for exam duty.

District education officer Shivcharan Marandi, who was present at the meeting, said the dos and don’ts were explained to officials who will be engaged in exam-related work.

“The examinees will have to be seated inside the centre by 9.45am. After getting the question papers, they will get 15 minutes additional time to read them. The matriculation exam will begin exactly at 10am and end at 1pm. The intermediate exam will go on from 2pm and 5.15pm. The 15-minute reading time window was introduced last year for the convenience of students,” said Marandi.

Like last year, the system of step marking would be also followed by the state board this year.

On security aspects, Marandi said the district administration would depute five security personnel at each centre and an additional five-member patrol team. “Each centre head has been directed to keep the premises neat and clean besides making arrangements for other necessary amenities so that students don’t face any problem,” he said.